Ruffling mechanism for sewing-machines



I. R. MOFFAIT.

RUFFLING MECHANISM FOR SEWING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 2. I916- 1,328,885. Patented Jan. 27, 1920.

Ell.

J. R. MOFFATT.

RUFFLING MECHANISM FOR SEWING MACHINES.

APPLICATIION FILED 050.2. 1-916.

1,328,885, Patented Jan. 27,1920. s SHEETSSHEEI 2.

v 5'2 1 g Q9 I 25 I J. R. MOFFATT. RUFFLING MECHANISM FOR SEWING MACHINES.

Patented Jan. 27, 1920.

a SHEETSSHEET3.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-2, I916. 1,328,885.

ing is a description, reference UNITED I STATES PATENT OFFICE- v JAMES R. MOFFATT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO UNION SPECIAL MACHINE COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

RUFFLING MECHANISM FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 2, 1916. Serial No. 134,658.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMEs R. Morra'r'r, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ruifiing Mec'hanism for Sewing-Machines, of which the followbeing had to the accompanying drawing and to the'figures of reference marked thereon.

The invention relates to new and useful improvements in ruffiing mechanisms for sewin machines, and more, particularly to a" ru ing mechanism which is supported above the work support and operated by the needle barof the sewing machine.

An object of the invention is to provide a ruflling mechanism of the above character wherein the ruflling device will be'bodily raised with the presser foot when said foot is raised for the insertion of the material underneath the same.

In the drawings, which show by way of illustration one embodiment of the invention: I Y I I Figure'l is a front 'viewof a sewing machine embodying the improvements, parts being broken away to show the looper 00- operating with the needles beneath the work support;

Fig. 9. is an end view of themachine;

Fig. .3 is an enlarged view showing the relative position of the rufliing blade to the presser foot when said rufliing blade is at the forward end of its stroke;

Fig. 4 is asimilar view, rufliing blade retracted;

Fig. 5 is a detail in section, showing the but showing the operating sleeve for moving the rufliing blade back and forth;

i Fig. 6 is a detail showing the presser foot, the work support, the needles and the manner of feeding the'fabric'to be stitched to ,the needlesinone use of my invention;

. Fig. 7 is a view'showing diagrammat1 cally the manner of stitching the' sections of, fabric together; v I Fig. 8 is a view showing, more or less diagrammatically,a section of a ladys vest in which the pocket has been stitched by my improved mechanism; an j Fig.- 9 is a plan view showing ,the supporting block and bracket at the upper end of the pressei bar. 1 i

The improved rufiling mechanism is parof fabric together of the sections relative to the other as it is in the county of Cook, State of improved rufiiing mechanism which is 10- porting the ruffling underneath the same, blade is raised with the presser foot, but

an overhanging arm ticularly adapted for stitching two sections and the gathering of one being stitched. This is accomplished by my cated above the work support. The ruffling blade is carried by a supporting member. which extends vertically and is pivoted at blade'is pivotally carried by its support. A spring presses the blade toward the work support, and a finger carried by the blade -holder engages the presser foot so that, when the presser foot is lifted, the blade will be lifted therewith. The bracket supblade is carried by the presser bar and, therefore, when the presser bar is lifted for the insertion of the material not only the ruffling Trufiling the supporting members for the blade are also raised, giving ample space underneath the same for. manipulation of the material.

Referring more in ings:-

"I have shown my improved rufiling mechanism applied to a sewing machine having a supporting bed 1, a work support 2, and 3 on whichis mounted The needle lever is oscildetail to the drawa needle lever 4. lated'by' a pitman 5 from an eccentric on the main shaft 6. At the front end of the overhanging arm there is a needle bar 7 which carries two needles 8 and 9. Copperating with the needles above the work support is a cross thread laying mechanism which includes afixed thread guide 10 and a 'movablethread hook 11. Said thread hook is oscillated so as to engage the cross thread and form a loop therein'for the needle'farthest from the thread guide to enter, and thus the cross thread is laid back and forth so'as :to join the needle threads on the upper surface of the material being stitched.

fCooperating with both of the needles 8 and 9 is a looper 12 which is mounted on a groove in the head at the suitable looper carrier 13, and this looper carrier is moved back and forth by a link 14 which is pivoted to the needle lever eX- tension 15. This looper causes a looper thread to be concatenated with both of the needle loops, and thus the needle threads are joined on the lower face of the fabrics being stitched.

The material is held on the work supportby a presser foot 16 which is carried by a presser bar 17. The presser bar 17 is connected by h an arm 18 to a guide bar 19 which is mo"- able in suitable bearings in the overhanging arn'i, and this guide bar with the connecting arm prevents the presser bar from turning in its bearings. The presser bar may be raised by a hand lever 20 which engages a pin 21 carried by the presser ban, The presser bar may also be raised by a lever 22 which engages a pin 23 carried by the presser bar. This lever 22 may be connected to a suitable knee shifter treadle.

The presser foot 16 has an up-turned toe 24 and an edge guiding section 25 which extends in front of said upturned toe. My improved rufflihg mechanism consists of a ruffiing blade 26, which is clamped to a ruflling blade holder 27 by means of a screw 28. The rufliing blade holder 27 is mounted on a ruflling blade support 29. Said holder is pivoted at 30 to the support, and a spring 31=sur-roundin the pivot bolt is connected at one end to the holder, while the other end of this spring is fixed to the support 29 and the spring normally tends to turn the ruflling blade toward the work support. The downward movement of the rufiling blade through the action of the spring 31 is limited by a finger which is rigidly attached to the rufiiing blade holder 27 and bearson the upper face "of the presser foot 16. Said finger slides back and forth on the presser foot. This finger is so positioned as to maintain the points of the ruffling blade substantial-1y on a line with the plane of the lower surface of the presser foot so that, as the rufiling blade moves back and forth, it will engage the upper face of the fabric directly beneath the blade and will gather the same. The fabric is fed through the machine by the rufiling blade is timed so as to move slightly faster or to have a greater feed strokethan the feed dog, and this gathers the material.

The support 29 for the rufiling blade consists of a bar 34 to the lower end of which is attached a bracket 35. A ruflling blade is pivoted to this bracket. The bracket is adjustably connected to the bar 34 and is held inadjusted position by a screw indicated at '36. This screw passes through a slot 37 inthe bracket, and-the bracket has a rib 38 formed thereon which. engages a lower endofthe a feed dog 33 and b ba; 34. This structure in detail forms no part of the present invention and will not befurther described.

The rod 34 is pivoted at 39 to a depending arm 40 of a bracket 41 which is rigidly connected to the presser bar 17. On the upper end of the presser bar there is a block 42 which is secured to the presserbar in any suitable way. The bracket 41 is pivotally connected to this block. Said bracket has a slot 43 formed thereon which engages the pin 21 and a screw 44pass'ing through the slot clamps the bracketin an adjusted position on the block 42. This slot 43 is substantially horizontal and permits of the bracket being adjusted back and forth in a horizontal plane. The pin 44 is threaded into the block 42 and has an enlarged head overlapping the side edges of the slot. Rigidly attached to the needle bar 7 is an arm 45. A sleeve 46 is pivotally connected to the arm 45 by means of a suitable pivot pin 47. The sleeve 46 engages the bar 34. This'arm 45 extends rearwardly from the needle bar 7 and its rear end 48 is forked so as to slidingly engage the presser bar. The purpose of this extension is to prevent the arm from turning on the needle bar. The arm is clamped to the needle bar by a 'set screw 49 and also by a clamping screw 50. The arm is split, and this screw 50, drawing the sections of the arm together firmly clamps it to the needle bar. The rear end pf the arm, however, as above noted, freely slides on the presser bar.

As the needle bar reciprocates, the sleeve will slide up and down on the bar 34. When the bracket 41 is adjusted so that the pivot point 39 between the rod 34 and the bracket is in front or to the right of the pivot point 47, as viewed in Fig. .2, then an up and down movement of the sleeve will cause the bar 34 to be oscillated on said pivotal support 39. Theextent of will depend upon the distance at pivot point 47. This distance may be adjusted or varied by shifting the bracket 41 on the presser bar. When it is desired to adjust the bracket the serew 44 is loosened and the racket may be readily moved forwardly or rearwardly, as desired. When it is moved forwardly or to the right, as viewed in Fig. 2, the stroke of the rufliing blade will be increased and whee moved to the left, as viewed in this figure, then the stroke of the mining blade will be decreased. When this bracket is moved for increasing the stroke of the rufiiing blade, the vibrating position of the riiffling blade will be changed. In other wci'ds', if the pivot pin -39 moved to the right, as viewed in Fig.2, the rufiling blade wine-e movedfarther "to the left when the needle ear is movea-u waraiy The positionof the rufiiing blade, may be readily oscillation which this point 39 is set in advance of the pivot varied on the bar 34: by loosening the screw 36 and shifting the bracket 35 relative to the bar 34. This enables the ruffling blade to be properly set relative to the presser foot so as to feed the material which is gathered up to a point where the feed of t e machine will readily carry the same underneath the presser foot.

WVhile my machine may be capable of various uses, it is especially designed for the stitching of pockets in ladies vests. In Fig. 8 of the drawings, I have shown, more or less diagrammatically, a section of a ladys vest the body of which is indicated at 51. This vest is formed with a slit extending vertically thereof, and the opening thus formed is covered by the pocket 52. The pocket is slightly larger than the length of the slit and, therefore, the edges of the pocket must be gathered in order that the pocket may be smoothly stitched to the garment. In the stitching of a pocket of this character, the body of the garment which is indicated at 51 in Figs. 6 and 7 is fed to the stitching mechanism so that the needle 9 enters the body portion of the garment while the needle 8 passes outsidethe edge thereof. Thus the looper thread covers the under edge of the garment. The pocket is fed to the needles so that its edge passses between the needles and this edge is guided by the edge guiding member 25. The rufiling blade engaging the pocket 52 will gather the edge thereof as it is fed under the presser foot and this edge of the pocket will be covered by the cross thread and thus the pocket will be stitched to the garment.

In Fig. 7 of the drawings, the looper thread is indicated at l, the needle thread for the needle 8 at n, the needle thread for the needle 9 at n, and the cross thread at 0. lVhen the presser foot is raised to place the section of fabric underneath the same, the finger 32 engaging the presser foot will limit the swinging movement of the ruflling blade 27 about the pivotal support 30 therefor and will thus keep the points of the ruffiing blade well above the upper face of the work support which enables the operator to manipulate the fabric back and forth until it is properly positioned for beginning the stitching operation. Then again when the presser foot is raised the support for the ruffling blade is also raised therewith and this gives ample space underneath the supporting members for the ruffiing blade for v the manipulation of the material when placing the same beneath the presser foot.

It is obvious that minor changes in the details of construction and the arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, as set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is 1. The combination of a stitch forming mechanism including a needle bar, a needle supported thereby, means for reciprocating the needle bar, a presser foot, a presser bar carrying said presser foot, a ruffiing mechanism including a ruffling blade, a support on which said ruffiing blade is pivotally mounted, means for yieldingly forcing said ruffling blade downwardly, means for oscillating said support, a bracket fixedly connected to the presser bar and pivotally supporting the upper end of said ruffling blade support, means for raising the presser bar and the bracket connected thereto, and means for limiting the downward movement of the rufiling blade when said presser bar and bracket are lifted.

2. The combination with stitch forming mechanism including a needle bar, a needle supported thereby, means for reciprocating the needle bar, a presser foot, a presser bar carrying said presser foot, of a ruffling mechanism including a rufiling blade, a support on which said rufiling blade is pivotally mounted, means for yieldingly forcing the rulfling blade downwardly, means for limiting the downward movement of the ruffiing blade, means for oscillating said support, a member fixed to the upper end of the presser bar, a bracket pivotally supporting the upper end of the ruffiing blade support, means for connecting the bracket to said member whereby said bracket may be adjusted horizontally for varying the stroke of the ruflling blade, and means for raising the presser bar.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature, in. the presence of two witnessses.

S. GEORGE TATE, F. C. BUTLER. 

